Attacked again

[Howard Glansfield]

It is a lovely afternoon here and I was enjoying a walk with my dogs.I saw a very large Doberman come into the park so I had just got Arthur on his lead ,when the owner of the Doberman said 'my dog is not aggressive' he will play with yours,so I left Fred off his lead ,Ellie had already gone to hide as she does with strange dogs.The next thing I know the Doberman runs at Fred gets hold of him round the throat and the top of his head and starts to shake Fred.Although Fred is big this dog was bigger,he didn't have a chance.The Doberman wouldn't let go and the owner was hitting him with his dog chain.I had hold of Fred by his tail but was frightened to pull him as I thought the bite might tear but I knew when the Doberman let go Fred would retaliate.Luckily, another dog walker came to help and took Arthur out of the way.Eventually Fred was let go and I got him straight on his lead.He has a puncture to his ear but,thanks to his thick fur,his neck seems to be ok.It is quite a minor injury but he shouldn't have been injured at all.My adrenaline level peaked! The dog left the park with,I must admit, a very apologetic owner, and Fred and my other two seemed quite happy to play.

I am trying to find somewhere better to walk my dogs.

[Howard Glansfield]

Thank you for your kind words.It could have been a lot worse so I am grateful for that.

I have posted a photo of them afterwards,You can see they all look happy.

[Sheree Parrish]

So sorry to read this Howard...you seem to have the same sort of luck as me :-(

I have to admit though, since my thread and the advice about the lemon juice, I go out equipped when I have to walk Henry alone, and we've not been approached by anything nasty since.  My hand is always poised on my jif bottle, just in case ;-)

I hope they are all going to be ok, I'm just off to have a look at the photo.

Sheree & Hen x

[Lois McCullough]

Howard how awful and so sorry to hear it. What on earth is happening, people should know their dogs well enough to know how they could/would react with another dog obviously not or maybe they just don't care. There are enough training classes around these days for every dog owner to attend with or without the dog!! Hope you find somewhere else to walk, good luck Lois

[Sherry Miller]

Howard I am sorry and glad that Fred is alright....I never quite trust owners of other dogs who say it is safe for their dog to play with mine.....I sort of wait and watch the situation and make my own judgement of their dogs and also my own dogs reaction to that dog.  Funny part here is we have a black lab mix who lives behind us and a golden retreiver who play nicely with Molly ( all females) but who would attack Pebbles when I was walking him and who my IS Shilo was petrified of.  Only thing I can figure is they did not like male dogs ( even though both my boys were neutered). 

   Shame that you have to be the one to find a new place to walk instead of the Doberman.  I agree that training is needed or lets hope the owner of the Doberman will keep him on lead now that he knows he can not trust his dog not to attack. 

[Eunice Marott]

glad all ended o.k. must have been awful for you all. I agree with Lois's comments

[Elizabeth Ball]

Goodness, this is awful and I have to say you have handled it so much better than I would have done.  I think I would currently be on the sofa with a large glass of wine (for medicinal purposes obviously).

I am extremely lucky to have a nice 2 acre field to exercise Bella in with no care for what anyone else may be up to, and over the last 15 months of dog walking and socialising I have invited those I know and trust to come along and have their dogs to either play or just have a good romp if we aren't around.  It's a shame you don't live closer to me!

[Howard Glansfield]

Thanks for the advice ,I didn't know about the back legs trick.

Thank you all for your kindness ,Fred is ok and I have got him some antibiotics so he should be all right,The other dog attacked so quickly that neither I nor Fred saw it coming.

I am going on the ferry to France tomorrow with my friend,we just go for the fun of it We drive to Belgium and have a lovely meal, I buy bags of a Frolic type dog food from Auchan supermarket, which I use for treats and rewards.You can't buy it here .That will be a relaxing day,

I leave Joan to cope with the dogs but what a welcome I get when I come home!

Thank you all again.

[Val Martin]

I certainly would not recommend anyone trying to manually separate fighting dogs.  Trying to get hold of the back legs of two powerful dogs in the middle of a fight is in my opinion asking for trouble.

[Chantal McIlveen-Wright]

Great to know that Fred is ok now, but as Tracy has suggested I would always let my dog be seen by a vet and certainly put some desinfectant on any wounds. Vets know what to look for whereas we tend to look for wounds and blood but not really for pulled muscles or anything else. Those setters of ours can be very hard and just ignore a wound. Most of the time it is without consequence but we do not want to take a chance, do we?

Another point I would like to mention, my IS Darwin is the sweetest thing on earth and if attacked he goes on his back, but once and I am pretty sure it was a doberman too, this dog attacked Darwin who did not react, nor did the doberman react to the surrending signal, continuing to attack Darwin. By the time we (both dogs' owners) reached our dogs, Darwin was defending himself and his mouth was full of blood. Of course I had assumed that Darwin was hurt, but to resume the situation Darwin was in fact seriously attacking the doberman and the blood was from the doberman, not from Darwin.... If badly threaten a setter can be very aggressive too, but I really and sincerely hope that you will never have to see it.
At the first encounter I never trust a dog owner, I trust my dog's reaction and will refuse any dogs to come to my dog unless my dog is showing an interest. Howard I do not think it is a good idea for you to find another place, on the contrary, you have to make all dogs' owners on this park aware of the problem. Plenty of cuddles to Fred.

[Michelle Webster]

I am so sorry to hear about this horrid experience and having been in this situation myself I know just how it shakes you up. I hope that both you and Fred are ok. It's not just the physical injuries that are so awful, but the mental effect they can have on the victim. Sometimes they are ok, sometimes it makes them nervy and sometimes they decide to get the first bite in next time! Situations like this spoil what should be an enjoyable walk with your dogs. reading the posts below the jiffy lemon sounds like a brilliant idea! 

[Val Martin]

If your dog is being  attacked, the best thing you can do is throw a large bucket of water right at their heads, if no water is available, take off your coat and throw it over them get the other owner to do the same...the dogs usually part long enough for the owners to get them back on their leads.    NEVER try to hold on to your dog when he is involved in a fight as he will more than likely come off far worse...think about it........he's trying protect himself from the aggressor and then you hinder his movements by hanging on to his tail or even worse....pulling his back legs away from under him!!!!

Think of the danger you are putting yourself in as well... not a good idea!

[Chantal McIlveen-Wright]

Sounds very sensible to me!!!!